Klein/Ally Show sit down with Coldplay's Chris Martin for a special interview with KROQ listeners.
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00:00It's so good to see you again. We are very excited to talk about the new album, of course
00:21your 10th album, but let's start right now. We're in Malibu. This is the epicenter of
00:24pretty much every earthquake that's happened in California recently. How does Chris Martin
00:28handle earthquakes? I haven't actually noticed them, although I have been here, so it makes
00:34me a bit worried about my sense of sense. Everyone keeps saying, did you feel that earthquake?
00:41And I say, no, not at all. Because there's been like 10 of them in this area in the last
00:46week and you have not felt one. No. I think it's because you've done so much for the earth.
00:51You love the earth so much. That's very sweet. The earth doesn't want to disrupt you. That's
00:54very sweet. I think the last one was about two miles away. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'll keep
01:00a lookout. Guys are sleeping right through them. So we're celebrating, of course, Moon
01:04Music and it's the 10th album. We're celebrating you guys being here. We're celebrating everything.
01:09Celebrating it all and all of us together and you opening up your doors to us. But I
01:13want to get a sense. It's very funny to have you all in. This is where I work every day,
01:16you see. It's amazing. Well, Moon Music was recorded here. A lot of it, yeah. And in so
01:22many other places too on tour. But yes, all the sort of nerdy stuff happens in this room.
01:28But like you've told us many times on K-Rock over the years, you have this amazing way of
01:33hearing sounds wherever you may be in the world, grabbing your phone out, saving them,
01:36not knowing where you'll use them or if you'll use them at all. But then they're there for you
01:40and you come back and like we all dump photos after a trip, go through all the sounds and some
01:44of those sounds are I'm sure in the album. Yeah, sounds and voice memos and so found sounds and
01:50ideas for songs. And this morning something came through. I woke up and it was a song called
01:56Trillionaire. And I'm like, I can't sing a song called Trillionaire. But I had to record it
02:01anyway. It might never get used. But that's a pact I made with myself that if an idea comes,
02:06I'll record it. But when you get an idea like that, are you exploring it musically? Or are you
02:12just kind of exploring it in your head? And lyrically? Well, something like that. It's a
02:16dance song. And I guess it's trying to say, if I could value your worth, in terms of love and
02:23beauty, if that equaled money, I'd be but I was like, this, this is just terrible. So but I've
02:30told you now on K rock, so that I don't think that song will ever even make it to the rest of
02:35the band. And now hit it on K rock Trillionaire. So Chris, here we are, you know, your 10th album
02:42is about to drop. And I just want to get a sense of how you feel compared to when your
02:46first album when parachutes came out, you know, back in early 2000. Compare how you feel right
02:50now? Yeah, 10,000 out? Do you still have the pressure? Do you still have the pre release
02:54pressure? The will the audience love it? I mean, you go all over the place with this album. But
02:58how are you feeling right now? That's a great question. Because we're a bit older. And we're
03:01not novel anymore to anybody. There's nothing. There's no reason, really, for anyone to go and
03:06seek out a new Coldplay album, except that this one's really good. So So these are songs that
03:13we really love and have, you know, collected over the last few years. And all I can say is it's
03:22something we need to make. So I don't know if anyone's going to like it, but we needed to make
03:27it. Well, we've had a chance to listen to it, thankfully. And already, I mean, I noticed how
03:32different every single song is. And you always have really pushed genre. I mean, you've done
03:37R&B, you've done hip hop. I mean, come on, you've done a lot of different genres.
03:41R&B and done it. You mean we've had flavors of?
03:45Yes, in a way.
03:47Look at Travis Scott and say, hey, we both do hip hop, right?
03:50I mean, you dabble.
03:52Lots of colors, for sure.
03:54Right. So I mean, when is the Coldplay country album coming out?
03:57That's a great question. Well, Beyonce did hers, didn't she?
04:01Exactly. I mean, are there any country artists you'd ever want to collaborate with?
04:04No, but an idea did come through for a country song yesterday. But that wasn't very good either.
04:10Yeah, I can't wait for all the album of all the rejected songs.
04:13Yeah, well, there's a guy, but I can't remember, Miguel might remember,
04:17there's a piano player that Brian Eno turned me on to. I'll try and remember by the end of this
04:22episode, who that and I like to try and play piano like he does a thing where he rolls.
04:29Instead of playing like, he rolls like
04:32a. Everything is like, wow.
04:42We didn't want to make you stand up, so we brought you that so you can play on that as well.
04:45That's there you go.
04:47Well, I think we can take this on tour, right?
04:51Yeah, that's what you get for the TikTok shop. It was a great prop.
04:56That's great.
04:56So your tour that you're still continue to be on right now,
05:01you have been doing little surprises where you've been debuting some of the songs from
05:04Moon Music on the tour.
05:06Allegedly, yeah.
05:07Allegedly in other countries, unexpected stops.
05:11And then in Vienna, you did something that was very interesting. And I think a lot of people
05:15go, Chris Martin and Coldplay are playing a Taylor Swift song.
05:19Oh, I see. Yeah.
05:20And it was.
05:22We need hits too, you see.
05:24So the easiest thing is just to play one of hers.
05:27You were embraced so overwhelmingly by those fans.
05:31Did Taylor appreciate that at all? Did she thank you? Did she get wind of it?
05:35She sent me seven million dollars and a card that just says, I'm the best. But thank you.
05:42Thank you for trying.
05:45Well, that was a very strange set of circumstances. And that was, of course,
05:50out of respect for Taylor and also for all those people that were supposed to go to a show
05:55and then couldn't because of some naughty people.
06:00You've also been playing some of your new album in other places,
06:04Incognito in Vegas at a karaoke bar. Yeah, allegedly.
06:08In disguise, you allegedly sang All My Love.
06:12But this can't be the first time you've gone out in public in disguise.
06:17Is there another time that you've been out in disguise and none of us knew?
06:21Well, if you're talking about what happened on Saturday.
06:24Yeah.
06:25I don't know who that guy is.
06:26I see.
06:27If you look on IMDB, it says Nigel Haverstock.
06:30Yeah.
06:31Sounds a lot like you.
06:31I guess he sounds a lot like me.
06:33Great voice.
06:35I don't know who he is. I don't know. I was here. I wasn't here. I was in Las Vegas. That is true.
06:42Yes. But not there.
06:44I would never do karaoke for free.
06:47If someone is, because I'm sure you've heard plenty of Coldplay karaoke over the years.
06:51What is the song that you recommend people do and the song you recommend they stay away from?
06:54In karaoke?
06:55Yeah. Us amateurs when we're trying to experience that.
06:58I think the best song to probably do of ours is a song called Sky Full of Stars.
07:03Because it still sounds good when you're drunk and even I can't sing it very well.
07:08So, by the way, what's your name, sir?
07:11Robert.
07:11What I'm so grateful for in 2024 amidst all the troubles of the world is that
07:17the most of the community of Earth is coming together.
07:20For example, you're wearing a Limp Bizkit t-shirt in Coldplay studio and it's totally great.
07:27You know what I mean?
07:28And that's the world I dream about.
07:30Yeah.
07:30But for real, because when we first played it in America,
07:34the K-Rock, not Renew Roast, the Christmas one.
07:37Christmas.
07:37Yeah. The idea of someone being fans of both of those bands at that time was really weird to people.
07:43And now it's just not.
07:45And that is proof, in my world at least, that things are moving in such a lovely direction.
07:50In a lot of places, not everywhere.
07:52Well, you've done so much to bring people together and also to almost heal the planet.
07:57I want to say on a Bono-like level where you've almost made it your mission on this new record,
08:03the albums are actually made from old recycled water bottles.
08:06Yeah, they are.
08:07So if anyone says this is trash, you can say, no, no, it would have been trash.
08:10It was trash.
08:11Was trash.
08:11Yeah.
08:12And if you throw it away, it'll be trash again.
08:14It'll be trash.
08:15But that's amazing that you found new ways in the shows with people on the bikes to power.
08:20And you've cut the carbon emissions by a ridiculous amount on your tours.
08:24Right.
08:24But the truth is, that's not us being any different to any other human who
08:28just wants to try and clean up their workplace, basically.
08:33And what we've been so lucky with on this tour is that we've invited and then attracted
08:40lots of people who come up with these brilliant ideas.
08:42So a lot of our vinyl this time, we're only making a limited amount, but
08:48a lot of it was picked up in rivers in Indonesia and Malaysia, where we
08:53own these boats called River Cleanup Boats.
08:55And they were invented by this guy called Boyan Slat, this young Dutch guy,
09:00who also has made this thing called Ocean Cleanup.
09:02So we're not doing anything except just helping someone else do what their idea was.
09:07And that's what I feel our job is right now, is to just help uncover brilliant people and
09:14put them in front of other people.
09:16Can you just, for us regular at-home recyclers, is there just one thing that maybe you forgot
09:22to break down an Amazon box and you accidentally put it in the trash?
09:25Like you forgot to bring your own bags to the grocery store?
09:29Like there's got to be something that Chris Martin has accidentally done that was not
09:33good for the planet.
09:33I'm the worst of all people.
09:35That's why I have to sing these songs.
09:37And for real, all of these positive messages and trying to unite things and trying not
09:45to hate anybody, that's all stuff I need to hear, too.
09:48So I mess up all the time.
09:49Of course.
09:50I'm human.
09:51Everybody does.
09:52And so in answer to your question, every time I throw away a bottle, I know I'm being an
09:58idiot, or even handing out balloons.
10:03I told her the next day, my mom said, well, those are single-use plastic.
10:07You kind of fucked up.
10:08Your mom shames you?
10:09She shames me on an almost daily basis.
10:12Oh, that's good.
10:13That's good parenting right there.
10:15We asked these lovely people here.
10:16These are questions from some of your many fans that are here today, K-rock listeners.
10:20And let's go ahead.
10:21We're going to get through as many of these as we can.
10:23But Chris is going to dive heatstroke.
10:24May I just like to say one thing?
10:25Yes.
10:26I apologize, because in America, everything is so compartmentalized in terms of radio
10:32categories.
10:34We've never been a rock band.
10:35And I'm very grateful to K-rock for pretending that we have been this whole time, because
10:40we're just not.
10:42And so thank you, all you rock people, for allowing the softest of rockers onto K-rock.
10:50How you doing, man?
10:51Good to see you.
10:52Yeah, talking to someone who's been with us the whole time.
10:57Well, Kevin and a lady called Lisa, they were really the people that first played us in
11:02America before anyone else would.
11:05And without them, we definitely wouldn't be here.
11:08So we did that all as a slow play so that we could come here and eat tacos at your studio.
11:13Well, we're not going to let you forget it.
11:14It worked.
11:16It was well worth it.
11:17All right.
11:17Here's a question from the crowd here.
11:20What song from the new album are you most excited for us to hear?
11:24Which is your favorite?
11:26Well, that's a good question.
11:28It's one kind of big piece.
11:31But most of it is centered around a song called All My Love.
11:34Yeah, that's the one that that guy did, karaoke.
11:36Yeah, Nigel.
11:37Yeah, he did that.
11:39And that's going to, I guess, be our single.
11:43That's basically our final single.
11:45Because after that, we won't really do singles anymore.
11:48And that feels like a good one to finish on.
11:51And it's between you and me, it's a nice song.
11:55I've heard it.
11:55It's a beautiful song.
11:58I think definitely a wedding song.
12:00Was this worth the drive just to hear?
12:03Don't clap.
12:05Stop clapping.
12:05Guys, ears are very important.
12:07Stop.
12:07I'm just tired.
12:08I'm so sorry.
12:09All right.
12:09What Coldplay song do you hold the closest to your heart and why?
12:13Well, probably the song Yellow because that opened the door for everything else.
12:18Yeah, but they're all, you know, anyone who asks that will say the same thing.
12:22It's that any song that makes it out of here is pretty special to us.
12:27Speaking of special songs, what inspired the song We Pray?
12:30People are just hearing it for the first time.
12:32Oh, yeah.
12:32That's from Ivan M.
12:34Who's Ivan?
12:34Ivan, how you doing, man?
12:35What's your name?
12:36Oh, yeah, Ivan.
12:42I was going to say, how are you?
12:43And I love that you have different color.
12:45See, this is what I'm talking about.
12:47People becoming themselves.
12:48It's the way of the world going.
12:51It's the way of the world is going to be okay.
12:53Look at that.
12:53Because of the different laces.
12:55Just because you can, we're in a place right now where you're free to be yourself
12:58and you're not going to hurt anyone else if you're free to be yourself.
13:01That's my theory.
13:02We Pray is a good story.
13:04So of course, like everybody else on earth, I was a bit depressed about everything.
13:10And it felt a little despondent.
13:11And this was, I'm going to say, last November.
13:15And we were on tour in Taiwan, which itself has extra struggles.
13:20And I woke up in the middle of the night.
13:23And this song just was ready to go in my head, which is unusual.
13:29It doesn't often appear that fully formed.
13:32And it said, I'm called We Pray.
13:33And you need to get out of bed and work me out right now.
13:36You're like, I'm tired.
13:37Yeah, I was a bit like I am right now, a bit half asleep.
13:42But I could hear, okay, I get it.
13:46And so I went to various instruments that were in the hotel room and worked out what to do.
13:51And immediately, it said what it wanted to be, which was a song where there's a space
13:57for people from other continents to talk about what they pray there.
14:01Because the point of the song is, I think, that everybody is asking for the same stuff.
14:07Even your enemy is asking for this.
14:09So there's not really any actual difference between most people at the end of the day.
14:16And the collaboration piece, does that come after the song, then?
14:19No, that came completely with it.
14:21It said, there's an artist called Lil' Sims, who's on the first version.
14:25That's her second verse.
14:27It said, you've got to ask Burna Boy to sing this bit.
14:29You've got to ask Lil' Sims to do a verse.
14:32Then you've got to ask this girl, Teenie, from Argentina.
14:34And then you have to ask someone who is Arabic.
14:39And then you have to do another version, which we'll release in about 10 days,
14:42with a blank second verse so that anyone can put their verse on.
14:47All right, what would you say the goal is for every concert experience?
14:51Yes, the goal for every concert, with Coldplay or in general?
14:56Let's talk about Lil' Wayne.
14:59I think with Lil' Wayne, you should leave slightly more confident and stoned
15:04and in love with the world than you were two hours ago.
15:07OK, that's a good answer.
15:07Yeah.
15:08How about Coldplay? Same question.
15:09Well, basically the same.
15:13I think we have a very clear sense of that.
15:16We'd like it if you left our concert to feel that you're free to be yourself,
15:21and therefore everyone else is free to be themselves,
15:24and you have a little more hope than you might have had two hours ago.
15:29In the goodness of people, not the band, but people.
15:33Because in these big shows these days,
15:36it's really one of the only places on earth now that people are there
15:40from so many different kinds of background and sexuality and gender and race and color,
15:45everything, and there's no problem.
15:47And this is like 80,000 people, which is crazy.
15:51So even without the band, that in itself is something that
15:56should lift you up to be a bit less scared of the other.
16:00And most of our problems come from being scared of the other
16:02or things we don't actually know.
16:04For example, all of this bullshit about immigrants.
16:08Go and meet some people who's an immigrant, for example,
16:10your own grandparents, and ask them about their experience.
16:14And you'll understand these are human people who are either desperate
16:17or really talented or just like you.
16:20And so I feel like one of our roles is to remove fear,
16:24and the other one is just to hopefully give anyone
16:26that likes Coldplay music a wonderful time.
16:29And same for Lil Wayne.
16:30Same for Lil Wayne.
16:31And stay for Lil Wayne.
16:32And same, same, same.
16:34The last question, this is from Allison.
16:36We're going to listen to some music, and that's why we're really all here.
16:38You can do whatever you want.
16:40This is from Allison.
16:41What helps you focus when you're creating your music?
16:44Everything.
16:45Life and I love, I just love music so much.
16:47And it's completely my obsession.
16:50And even when it's supposed to be a day off, poor old, you see,
16:55Miguel will take this, people are like,
16:57oh, geez, he's going to want to work today.
17:00So I'm just naturally focused on it.
17:03I don't need to really try to focus on it.
17:07May we ask this young lady, what's your name?
17:11Angel, right, right, Adriana.
17:13But when you're in your secret human disguise, okay.
17:16Is there anything you want to ask just because that outfit merits attention?
17:20I did. Okay, cool.
17:23Oh, there we go.
17:24That's great.
17:25I'm so happy that you're dressed in that outfit.
17:30Okay, there we go.
17:31I was, God, I was so high.
17:37Yeah, yeah.
17:38One more time.
17:39I don't want to clap because it bothers Chris's ears,
17:41but to have us here in your studio.
17:42That makes me sound like such a dick.
17:45We crave attention.
17:46No one claps for us ever.
17:47So we just want to bask in the glory that is you.
17:49But thank you for the new album.
17:50And thank you for the relationship with K-Rock over the years.
17:52Are you kidding?
17:52And thank you for continuing to bring, as you've said,
17:54you've brought so many, just all of these people together today.
17:57And this is a moment that...
17:58Thank you for my job, K-Rock.
18:00Yeah, you can clap.
18:01It's totally fine.
18:02A lot of wooing.
18:04Get them going.
18:04I'll tell you what it is.
18:05When I'm a bit tired and run down, which I am today,
18:08because it's been intense,
18:10I get a thing called tinnitus or tinnitus, you know.
18:12So my ears are ringing a lot.
18:14But that's fine.
18:15But it passes.
18:16It's okay.
18:16Thanks for letting us wake you up.
18:17This was the highlight for us, for sure.
18:19And Moon Music, we're going to listen to some on K-Rock now.
18:22But of course, the album available.
18:23Get it.
18:24And let's go ahead and...
18:25Or don't get it.
18:26Or don't get it.
18:27But if you don't get it, you're killing the planet.
18:29My advice is do whatever feels good to you.